It’s easy to bash Mr JT (God knows Pies has had afaircrack), but as good a defender as he is (and I think he’s very good, clearly one of the best in England), he simply doesn’t belong in this company. Lampard does; Terry doesn’t.

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The Terry inclusion is a joke! But he’s UEFAs European defender of the year (?!!!) so they have to include him.

But what has Ballack done in the last year. Sweet f-a. And Essien? He was injured for most of the year wasn’t he? And actually what did Drogba achieve in 2009? I’m not a Chelsea supporter obviously, but I think even a diehard Chelsea fan would find it hard to justify their inclusions.

I think you are being a bit hard on JT, being an irish liverpool fan i dont like the whole Mr. Chelsea/Mr. England aoura about him but he is a top defender, just lacks a yard of pace. The real joke on this list is the inclusion of Ballack, never mind this year, but what has he done since joining Chelsea?

This list has been a bit of a joke for a while, all it ever includes is the biggest names in world football and while the biggest names and best performers often overlap you still get essien making the list who didnt even play for most of the year.

he deserves it. hes the backbone of chelsea football club, currently top of the league, and have conceded only 1 goal at home this season. CHRINGLE, at least ESSIEN should be on the least, just watch him play.
and by the way, i am not a chelski fan

I think ballack is in the shortlist only for his international form for germany, he has been good so far this season, but only his germany form (barely) justifies his inclusion, personally I wouldnt have picked him for this year, essien has played well for chelsea and ghana, but even so its hard to think why he was nominated ahead of players like julio cesar or dani alves.
john terry is a definate for the shortlist, the most consistent defender in europe, and in my opinion, he and nesta are the best in the business, I have no idea why wayne rooney is in the shortlist, he just isnt the kind of player I think of when I hear the word FIFA, same goes for c.ronaldo, the imposter to the throne, his goalscoring record is good (against small teams) but for portugal he has been poor, and rarely preforms well in matches, its only his goals that aceel him to a so called “world class” status.
I think the overall top 3 will be:

1.Lionel Messi (best player in the world)
2.Xavi (nobody better than him in his position)
3.Andres Iniesta (words cant describe how good he is)

Anyone who has seen games played by Chelsea will know how important Ballack and JT are to the team. People seem to undermine Ballack’s contribution to the team, even some Chelsea supporters as well, but every manager on Chelsea have used him and it’s quite easy to see why. Ballack is very good in the air, and his physical presence and vision in passing allows him to boss the midfield. He cannot be like Lampard, who plays the attacking role and scores goals which make him stand out , but he makes the formation complete.

Nothing more can be said about JT’s contributions because they speak for itself: The saves he made and the tackles he does. He is a complete centre-back in every way and his authoritative figure is much needed in Chelsea and England. Everyone makes such a big fuss about his penalty miss but what all the skeptics need to do is to watch a few matches of Chelsea or England. Even though I do not think JT will win it, I still think he deserves to be on there. He is as good as Puyol, probably even better.

some of these are rediculous, i think that one person no one has mentioned yet is Arshavin
He has not only played fantastically for arsenal but was one of the major contributing factors to Russia’s unheralded European Cup performance which saw them keep England out of that cup, surely that deserves a mention

neither ballack or terry deserve to be in this list with so many great players left out,vidic is better than terry and had a better season.michael ballack over fabregas,arshavin,alonso and many more who have played better.

people’s please don’t sound like ignorant fans. it takes good performance individually and as a team both club and country for one to even be considered for that list. i like Fabregas, but if his national coach doesn’t include him in his team tough luck for him. but please don’t talk about ballack if you don’t have facts. My life as a fan, if there’s one player I wouldn’t leave out of my team of the year for the last ten years that would be him. next time you watch a chelsea or german game pay attention to him playing and you’ll see for yourself. he deserves it. and so does everyone else on that list.